INDO-CHINA 51 
to Nhatrang, the terminus of the railway. Tourane, our next jump, 
lay some two hundred and fifty miles north of this on the coast 
bordering the China Sea, and to get there we took advantage of 
the Government motor-coach service from Nhatrang. The journey 
north along the coastal road was interrupted by numerous wide 
lagoons which had to be traversed by ferry. This was a tedious 
business as the ferry was often on the wrong side when we arrived, 
and the method of propulsion was the old-fashioned one of punt- 
ing, which was done in the most leisurely fashion. To com- 
pensate for this the scenery was magnificent, the lagoons them- 
selves presenting a perfect picture with placid sparkling water 
encompassed by coconut palms. It is a pity that Indo-China has 
always been little known to the traveler and tourist, as it offers 
some of the most beautiful scenery in the world; also interesting 
people and magnificent relics of an ancient culture. The French 
authorities had arranged travel on this route exceedingly well, 
and J have no doubt conditions were similar in other parts of the 
territory. The roads were good, and there were excellent rest- 
houses at convenient intervals, with modern sanitation, where 
one could stay the night. 
At Tourane, a small port, there is a coastal railway northward 
to Quangtri passing through Hué, the capital of Annam. Here 
we were to meet Monsieur J. Jabouille, the Governor and well- 
known ornithologist. With Monsieur Delacour he did a tremen- 
dous lot of good work to make known the birds of this territory, 
the results of their efforts being incorporated in the four volumes 
of Birds of Indo-China. Having met this genial soul who was to 
be our guardian while in Annam, we arranged to set up our col- 
lecting base at an unoccupied forestry station at Thua Luu, a 
village near the coast between Hué and Tourane. Thua Luu is a 
small and typical Annamite village, surrounded by rice-fields 
which the inhabitants work on a communal basis, the whole vil- 
lage turning out to harvest each person’s rice crop. West of the 
flat rice-field belt lay the forested range called the Col des Nuages, 
and here are found many remarkable birds—little known at that 
time—such as Edward’s Blue Pheasant, Rheinart’s Argus Pheas- 
ant, Elliot’s Pitta, Chaulet’s Cissa, and Renauld’s Ground Cuckoo, 
all of which have a restricted distribution. 
